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Monday, May 27, 2013

So I'm gonna try to start blogging a bit more as I finally cut back my work schedule in order to spend more time with my family and actually have time to breathe again. I got this "weekend" post idea from another blogger who posts what they do on the weekends. As that's when we spend the most time together as a family, I decided to do that same. And I'm pretty sure you get tired of always seeing my Project Life posts, but nothing actually worth reading.

On Friday I had my nephew P while his siblings has swimming lessons. I had asked my Mom to help me do grocery shopping as I wouldn't have the time otherwise to do it. So the 4 of us (me, Violet, P and my Mom) went grocery shopping. Violet absolutely loves grocery shopping, mainly because she gets a cookie while we shop. Lol. After grocery shopping it was back home, put groceries away, have lunch and get Violet and P ready to go to Natalie's place (P's mom, my sister). Natalie was going to watch Violet while me and my Dad went to the city as an early birthday gift to me. Once Violet was dropped off and in bed for nap, I headed off to my Dad's place to wait for him. Once my Dad got home, we hopped in the Datsun 240Z and headed into the city. The original idea was to go to IKEA for some shopping and then go for supper. But I thought Thursday night of going to see Star Trek: Into Darkness. My Dad agreed. And good thing we took the Datsun. It's a speedy little car and when we left the house we had an hour until the movie started. The trip usually takes close to an hour. We were there in 40 minutes. Oops. Even managed to get popcorn and drinks and grab good seats. It was for a 3:20 showing, so the theatre was not even 1/4 full. And awesome seats. And the movie was AWESOME!!! After the movie was done, we went over to Montana's for supper. I, of course, got the Steak Fajitas. And Dad got the Moose Hat for me. The only sad thing about the entire day? I couldn't drive the Datsun. I'm around 5'2" and even with the seat all the way forward, I could barely put the clutch all the way in to shift. Boo! Violet seemed to enjoy herself at my sister's place and with my Dad's gf. I even got to see her "ride" her tricycle and she absolutely adores my cat there too.

Trailer for Star Trek: Into Darkness

My fajitas

Me and my Dad in Montana's

Utterly embarrassed

Rain clouds forming

I got to ride in the Datsun!

Violet "riding" her tricycle at my Dad's place

Apparently wheelbarrows are also rideable

Violet giving my ancient cat Jewels a kiss.

Saturday I was up nice and early for work (again!). After a crazy day at work, I brought Violet down to my Mom's place (who now lives 2 doors down from me) so that we could do the Truth Project with some friends of ours. As always, lots to think about and mull over. Later on in the evening, Keith did yard work while I cleaned up inside with Violet "helping." After the house was cleaned up, me and Violet went outside for fresh air and to let her play around. Enjoyed the bonfire that Keith had going to burn off some old stuff from last year.

Burning stuff from last year

Violet exploring the great outdoors

The Chinese Elms are blossoming!!

My husband does not like photos. Too bad.

Enjoying the fire after Violet went to bed.

Sunday after I was done work, I rushed home, showered, changed and got Violet ready to go to my sister-in-law's baby shower out in Ste. Anne. As usual, Violet played shy with everyone, except for her grandma's that where there. And then once she got a hold of a balloon, she was all smiles and giggles. Also got to visit my Meme and Pepe for a bit after we were done at the shower. When we got home, Keith was outside just finishing up the yard-work, so me and Violet played outside for a bit. She loves being outdoors.

Keith sent me this picture while I was at work. Apparently he makes for a good pillow for nap-time. Don't blame her one bit. She slept on him for just over 2 hours.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

See, as much as I love doing this project digitally, I've been wanting to do it physically so that I can actually play around with it, work on it during the week and have it on display for people to look yes. Yes, it's a bit more expensive in the long run (time and money wise), but it's fun. I can finally put inserts in that I've been wanting to put in and just have fun with it.

As a bonus part to it all, when I had bought all my digital kits from AC Digitals, they all came with printable PDF files of the entire kit. So I basically got two kits for the price of a digital one! Go me!

I printed my photos off at the local printing store (don't have photo paper at home and hubby wouldn't like me burning through new ink right away ;) ), printed off the journaling cards at home and then got to work.

Here's the process I've been doing: Throughout the week, I'll hook up my DSLR and my iPhone to the computer to upload all the images. Then I actually set up the entire layout on StoryBook Creator so that I can make sure that everything fits and if I need to do any digital embellishments/writing on photos, I can do that before I send them off to the printer. Once I have everything figured out (photos, journaling cards, embellishments, typing), I'll send it off to the respectful printers: photos to the print store and journal cards here at home. Once I have the photos from the print store, I just look at how it's set up on StoryBook Creator and insert everything.

The finished product? Take a look....

Week 16, left page. The title card is from PL Cherry Kit. The blue "today" journal card is from the PL Honey Kit. Parker's Hand font for all journaling

Yes, end of April and we got snow dumped on us again. And V's had this thing lately of her Teddy Bear (or Doll) has to be wrapped up in a blanket. She actually pulled her blanket out of her crib, grabbed her Teddy Bear, found me and asked me to wrap up Teddy Bear so that she could snuggle him.

V has also found that she can put my shoes on with no problems and I found her walking around the house like that (middle row, third from the left) with her toque on. Apparently Mom's shoes rock!

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Week 16, right side. The blue "noted" journal card is from PL Honey Edition. The brown journal card with the leaves is from the PL Cinnamon Edition. The Red Frame journal card is from Remember the Magic (can't find the link right now). I can't remember where the bottom yellow journal card is from. Design D layout

This is where I had fun and got to experiment. You see. Design D is set up with 2-4x6 (vertically) on either side with 4-3x4 (horizontally) down the middle. Now as I don't have a photo printer and have to print my photos out at the local store (and they don't have a 3x4 option), this is what I did and where my program came in handy.

In StoryBook Creator, I opened up a vertical 4x6 photo file, put 2-3x4 horizontally on there and, voila! I left a bit of space in between the two photos so that you could see that they were different photos. But it worked out great!

If you're wondering about the second photo from the top in the middle, yes, my niece was wearing her Mommy's heels in my house. Even though she's 3 years old, she has a love affair with shoes, just like her Mommy. So naturally I had to get a photo of that.

This week was also the week that V ended up in the hospital Friday night. She spiked a fever of 103, so we rushed her in. Unfortunately, the nurse didn't think it was too high and we waited for over an hour just to get into a room. Not 15 minutes after we got in the room, they rushed someone by on the crash cart. Her temp was already going down and she was trying to play with me, so we decided to go home and monitor her from there. Luckily she was all good the next morning. Phew!

Week 18, left page. Title card from Project Life Honey Kit with the Mad Science font (love it!!) Printed journaling is Celebrate the Day font.

Spring has definitely sprung here, finally! Keith took the scooter out of the shed and got it registered so that we can take it to work and whoever is home with V has the car. The coffee bag is Keith's Sumatra coffee from Second Cup that I got him. More snuggles with P when he fell asleep on me. The Tim Horton's coffee cup actually contained coffee!! (still in denial that I liked it). And the salad was from Mongo's when we went there for our 5-year anniversary date.

Day in the Life for April 2013 front insert. Most of the photos that I took during the day.

Day in the life for April 2013, back of insert. All the journaling for the day.

Week 18, right page. Sunday journal card is from Snap Studio 3x4 Snappy Days Journal Cards. Everyday Life, Polka Dot and Live Out Loud Journal Cards are all from Project Life Clementine Edition. Font is Celebrate the Day and my own hand-writing

The sunset photo is when I went to go feed my Dad's horses one evening. It was absolutely gorgeous and I won't be catching a lot of these again. Them moving sucks. The kids up in the playhouse, though? Awesome pic. And that's no filters, no editing. I lucked out on that one. Yes, Keith lets V sit in his lap while he paints his WarHammer models. And she patiently sit there with him. Love that. The living room pic is from Keith's birthday party that I put. Just the usual, guys come down, play video games and have fun.

A couple things I really loved about this page. And one that got me soooo frustrated.
1) Love the new Journal Card from Ali Edwards. But...it came in black. All I had to do was open it up in StoryBook Creator and re-color it, right? Umm...yeah. I tried the usual way I re-color things, but it didn't work. Tried again, did 't work. (I was using the adjust hues, like usual). Tried Googling, nope. Then I went into the Cut/Fill section, used the Fill button....Voila! Love how it turned out in purple.
2) The photo of V laying on the floor. She was being a complete goof that day and decided to pose on the floor. So naturally I put the iPhone level on the ground, snapped and was happy with the outcome :)
3) I have "discovered" the PicTapGo app and love it! The bottom left photo I did with the app and loved how it turned out. I first used the Bleached filter and then added the Brooklyn filter. Love, Love, LOVE IT!
4) V is also now sitting at the Kitchen table with us during meals. She was trying to get up into one of the "big chairs" and when I told Keith about it, he said to pull out the booster seat. She loves sitting at the table with us and having her own plate :)

Loved this :) From Project Life Jade Edition

YES FOR IRON MAN 3! Took my Mom to go see this as an early Mother's Day present :)

Week 19, right page. Design D. Top left journal card with V's drawing on there is from..... Both 3x4 journal cards are from Project Life Honey Edition.

Yes, V wanted to "contribute" to Project Life (as if she doesn't already!) with a drawing that she did for me. So proud :) We also went outside for a bit and she wasn't too sure about walking on grass, even though she had shoes on. But I got some awesome shots. The one with V laying on the chair I edited in PicTapGo with the Bleached filter. Love how it turned out!

Monday, May 13, 2013

Mother's Day Sunday (May 12) was the first Sunday I had off from work since I started back in October. I told my boss I wasn't working Mother's Day and she said OK! Woot! And it was a nice relaxing day.

Here's the photos with the write-up at the bottom. Enjoy!

- Slept in until 8 am! - Snuggle with Violet while Keith does something in the kitchen - Have strawberries, homemade whipped topping, homemade waffles and a ½ lb Reese Peanut Butter Cup for breakfast, courtesy of Keith - Bath-time for Violet as she covered herself in whipped topping and syrup - Mommy has bubble bath while Daddy and Violet watch Blue’s Clues - Go to church. An awesome message on Heaven as a City. And Violet behaved awesome in Sunday School - Lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup and beans - Nap-time for everyone!! - Play-time with Violet - Pizza for supper - Walk to 7-11 for Slurpees - Play outside for a bit, watch Violet master her slurped - More playtime inside - Tickle fights - Bedtime for Violet - Work on Project Life and spend time with Keith.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Seeing as it absolutely gorgeous outside again, I made plans to meet up with my sister and her kids and a nearby park.

After packing food for our picnic (egg salad sandwiches, cookies, chips, and homemade iced tea), I put V in the stroller and off we went. The park is only 3 blocks away, so it was an easy walk.

Met up with my sister, found a spot on the grass to sit and watched my oldest nephew take his bike up and down the hill. That boy is a daredevil. Let the kids play around, but since there is no actual playground there, just the hill and some open expanse to run around, we packed up and headed to one of the pocket parks nearby.

There the kids had more fun and V just wanted to be in the swing, swinging away. She loves being outdoors and just having fun. And hopefully this will help her get over her cold that she has.